


a matter of names

by nebulousviolet



Category: Harry Potter - J.K Rowling
Genre: Multi, Vignette, pre book 1 post mauraders era, the first wizarding war
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-21
Updated: 2018-10-21
Packaged: 2019-08-05 07:17:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 758
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16363370
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nebulousviolet/pseuds/nebulousviolet
Summary: “Merlin, of course I’ll be the godfather. I wouldn’t dream of leaving the poor sod to Wormtail.”





	a matter of names

**Author's Note:**

> owo i havent read hp in years but ive fallen back in love w the pre harry era esp w sirius, james and lily so um....enjoy i guess!

“Baby names,” James says to Sirius by way of greeting. His hair is all over the place, as usual, and his glasses are crooked.

Sirius raises an eyebrow at him - something that annoys James to no end, because he can only raise two eyebrows, not just the one - and says, “What about them?”

James looks visibly frustrated. “Lily’s pregnant, remember?” he says, as if Sirius could forget. Him and Peter play drinking games sometimes - drink every time James mentions the baby, that sort of thing - and they never fail to get him hammered, which is the only reason he plays drinking games with Peter in the first place. “And she’s drawn up all the Muggle names, and, you know, no disrespect to them, but they’re all a bit _bland_.”

“Better than the other extreme,” Sirius says pointedly. “What are your parents called again?”

James, who is used to years of ribbing about his parents’ first names, ignores him. Rather a shame, since Sirius misses that James - the fiery, wicked one who could rise to a challenge. Marriage has made a mellower man of him (although at nineteen, nearly twenty, James is hardly a _man,_ neither of them are), and while it isn’t a bad thing, it’s also changed him from the boy Sirius met on a train so long ago. “So, you see, I was thinking something more traditionally wizarding,” he continues. “You know, the type of name you’d find on a good pureblood dinner party guest list. Not that it’ll be pureblood, what with Lily being Muggleborn, but you know what I mean.”

“I’ll tell Evans you called your unborn baby an _it_ ,” Sirius threatens, before lighting up and taking a long drag of his cigarette. Remus hates it when he smokes inside, so he’s taken to cutting down on smoking entirely rather than ducking out into the freezing cold London winter every time he wants a quick fag. But he’s outside anyway, so he may as well indulge. “Elvendork’s a good name. Works for boy or for a girl, remember?”

James laughs. “Elvendork James Potter. How dashing.”

“What if it’s a girl?” Sirius asks. “Will her middle name still be James?”

“But of course!” James gasps, pretending to be wounded. “It would be cruel to withhold my name from any child.”

Sirius snorts through the smoke, watches the grey London skyline with apathy. “Alright, so what’s the real reason you asked me to Apparate to Hyde Park on a Monday morning when it’s cold enough to make me lose my bollocks?” he asks, and stubs the bright cherry of his cigarette out onto the concrete wall him and James are perched on. James smiles thinly. “I was wondering - well, both Lily and I were wondering - whether you’d want to be dear Elvendork’s godfather.”

“The question is, is Elvendork ready for such an arsekicking godfather?” Sirius wonders aloud, before punching James playfully on the arm. “Merlin, of course I’ll be the godfather. I wouldn’t dream of leaving the poor sod to Wormtail.”

“What about Moony?” James asks wryly. “Would you let him?”

“Ah, well, I’m shagging him, so I’m biased, aren’t I?” Sirius grins. 

James grins back, stares into the distance with what looks a little like longing. “Bloody nuisance, this war,” he says softly, so quietly that Sirius isn’t sure he heard it at all. “No time to have a kid, really, but I might be dead by the time it’s over.”

“Ah, you won’t be,” Sirius says. “I’ll believe you’ll let this bloody war kill you the day dear old Wormtail decides to grow a spine. So that’s never, thank Merlin and Morgana, and you and Lily and Elvendork will live happily ever after while You-Know-Who rots somewhere.”

“And you’ll still be shagging Moony,” James murmurs, and Sirius flips him the bird.

“And you’ll be lumbered with enough kids that you’ll be begging me to babysit, and I’ll remember this, and I’ll say no,” he fires back, and James laughs properly then, enough to ease what had rather quickly been becoming a somber conversation. “You’ll see, Prongs. Everything will be alright. Swear to it. When have I broke my word?”

“All the time,” James shakes his head, still laughing. “Bloody McGonagall must’ve been near  stroke by the time you were done with her. _We_ were done with her.”

“When have I broken my word to you, then,” Sirius amends, and James softens, claps him on the shoulder. “Everything will be alright.”

“If you say so,” James says, still looking troubled, and Disapparates into the fog.


End file.
